Hi,

I have been out of play on my druid for a while, and currently, I am having a devil of a time trying to solo for exp, I want a good place i can solo for exp, quadding is out, because i am to rusty at it to try, i perfer dot kiting/dot rooting. currently i am lvl 71, I appreciate any suggestions you may have,

sincerely

Hycotti Hyuuga,


Druidess of Tunare, Luclin server.

DoTs are wildly lame xp w/o some good AA counts/great manapool and regen imo. Charm kiting is where it's at...16+% AA per mammoth in Icefall at 71.

And howdy :).

I was doing the young bears and mammoths in icefall at 71.

And running the various collect 4 hides / tusks for faction with Valdholm.

Agree with the posters above that charming yields much greater experience than dotting.

That said, the best kiting experience that I recall around level 70 was the orc logger camp in Elddar Forest (just stay out of range of the nasty casters' AOE). There is a kitable quest for a nifty ring from the Arch Druid in that zone. Good hunting.

I am willing to give the charm fighting a try, from my understanding its pretty simple and maybe you can run over it with me, basically i understand, snare mob get out of hitting range, charm it, give it pet weapons, sick it on new target, and pray to tunare that charm doesnt break before it kills the other mobs.

No, scratch that idea.

Your pet is the mob you want to die.

Snare and glamour then charm pet, set it on next mob.

Your charmed pet does not much damage (if doing mammoths in Icefall , your pet will do about 30% damage to the target mob before your pet is torn to shreds) while the mob tears up your pet.

When your pet is at low health, use camo aa to break, then kill your ex pet for full xp.

Get a new pet, send it against the mob you previously damaged.

When your pet is low, break again and kill your pet.

Agains, using mammoths as an example your original target mob should be at approx 30% helath by now, so your next pet and it will die approx together.


When you get comfortable with this, you can add extra mobs to it - so your pet is being hit by 2, 3 or even more target mobs.
Your pet will be roasted very quickly, and sometimes its a lottery between your speed of camo, lag, your internet connection etc as to whether you are quick enough to save your pet to kill, or whether it dies and you've wasted a mob.
You will find your comfort zone with this.

For me I find 2 or 3 is the most my conditions will allow for, then hitting camo at about 15% pet health results in a pet at 2-3% when it actually registers.

Get w/ me in game if you want, I'll show you my spell gem setups, etc, etc,.....

do not have camo aa.

Get it then - its the best 5 aa you'll spend probably.

Otherwise you need to get an insta click /short cast invis item.

I would try DoD instance mission The Lost Notebook; DoN instance mission Lair of the Blackwing; Icefall Glacier-spiders, mammoths, and bear; Valdeholm-the oozes on the west side of pit from entrance; Steppes-gnolls and others; Direwind-roots of the black oak in the valley leading to Ashengate are good at 75 and up as well as the gnolls in the plains past Ashengate gate and the gnolls in bone yard; Atiiki is the best place to go in my opinion for nothing summons and have low health as well as the fact that there is a bug u can use when u figure it out

i attempted pittifully to charm kite in iceclad and died in under 20seconds when charm broke
any other suggestions? also attempted to kite in eldar forrest, 6 attempts to cast snare, all resisted. and another exp loss.

You don't have the DoN snare? (Look for lvl 61 spells on Lucy for name...assuming you don't have both tier 1 and 2 DoN done). I've never had it resisted that I can recall. 90 crystals, either camp iirc.

How did you die in 20 secs - were you standing next to the mob ? were they not snared ? did you not have SoE / FoE on ? - we're trying to help you here but you're not giving much in the way of details

charm kiting takes a bit of getting used to. Are you sure it was iceclad?..... i just don't see a couple of cougars taking down a 71 druid, but, with the high magic resists in velious, it would break often.

icefall, and yes i was soe'ed and snare was resisted, using mire thorns (61 druid snare from don crystal purchased). and the 20second death, was as a result of charm breaking at entirely the wrong time, sadly with a total of 43 aa's charm kiting doesnt seem the way to go.

example of strat used, snare first mob, get out or range, charm, find second mob, snare, send pet, watch them fight, basically let, them beat each other up, and at the wrong time, charm and snare broke, and i got eatten.

Set up /pet attack hotkey, and AA camo hotkey (will be a bitch w/o that...snare/group 'til you have it). Don snare, Glamour of Tunare, 14 minute snare. Repeat on up to 5 mobs for me. Run to a safeish spot.

Charm one, attack another. All should attack your pet. If not, run in tight circles until they hopefully do. When your pet gets low (hp% I break charm at depends on how fast it's taking damage), hit invis AA. Charm another, kill that last pet first, then another. Rinse, repeat (though it's never nearly so pretty for me). When you're starting to run out of mobs, re-14 min snare, and find more.

14 min snare and Glamour of tunare are essential. Not to mention being at about max casting distance when possible, or being moving always.

You must overwrite short duration low resist snare with ensnare (entrap when u get some more aa's)

did the following steps snare, glamour, rensare, charm, snare, glamour, let two mobs beat each other up, got my happy rear an all express trip to bind. i probably need a different zone icefall seems to be a trainers delight.

Try the big frogs in PoStorms...I've read they were a great way in the past. Dunno the con now (probably light blue at 70), but a safer way to get the ropes down at least.

Other tips for charm kiting:

1) If it's a matter of seconds, cycle your usual DoN chromatic snare and the AA Entrap. The AA operates off a separate timer so you can instantly retry another snare.

2) Keep using Glamour of Tunare. Very very underused spell. It's an animal-specific debuff (-20 MR) that helps Charm spells land a little easier and it costs almost nothing to cast it (10m, w00t). Casting time of 1 second also means you can recast several times before a mob gets to you.

3) If mammoths are tromping on you, practice the technique on something smaller. Charm kiting has a learning curve to it, and i STILL sometimes get smooshed. Try the snakes/lizards at the zone-in to Steppes from Mesa. Handy escape route, not terribly social, and they don't hit nearly as hard.

Typically, especially if i'm feling rusty, i'll snare my intended pet (make sure it's along snare, you can overwrite Mire with Ensnare), debuff with Glamour, Haste it (clicky necklace), and park it a LONG WAY AWAY. Then i go get the next mob, snare it, and run it right into my pet, a LONG WAY AWAY. During the entire encounter, i try to keep myself at maximum spell-cast range (look into an ER item, like Ring of the Seasong). That way when/if charm breaks, i'm kiting distance away and they're both snared and debuffed, ready to be recharmed.

Keep at it, like i said there's a learning curve to this technique but it's extremely useful in any zone with animals (and later, insects). Don't rush things by trying to take too many mobs at once or squeezing into a tiny space. Keep it open like you're kiting long-range.

As far as only having 43 AAs, no worries. Get your Innate Camo and preferably Entrap (1st rank will work fine) and you should be able to charm kite.

Good luck.

PS - after Ensnare lands the first time, it's good for 14 minutes, no need to recast it after every other spell. Same goes for Glamour. Once the mob is charmed, there's no sense in continuing to debuff it.

Hycotti - what causes you to die tho - you keep saying you do - but unless you're standing on the mobs it can't possibly happen

I've been chain-charming Griffs in Dire. The wolfs and bears in the zone are charmable too, but the areas aren't quite as spacious.

Lots of room along the back wall near zone in from Sunder. All griffs are of a level to charm.

I pull (ONE MOB - paci if needed) with serpent vines. It's never resisted, then run around til I get glamour on mob AND ensnare. Ensnare is a low level snare, so may be resisted, but it lasts like 20mins with focus effects. Once ensnared and glamoured I charm grif, and go get another griffin..again pulling with serpent vines. Sick pet on this mob and while the two are fighting you have ample time to put ensnare and glamour on mob your pet is fighting. When pets health get down below 10% break charm - yes with innate invis - get it. Now charm the one your pet was just fighting, he's already ensnared and glamoured so it should take easily. Sick freshly charmed pet on old pet that is almost dead, then go get another griff. Rinse and repeat.


Charming basics....
- always keep everything SNARED
- be prepared for charm to break; they will break!
- always stay at max distance
- pet will always take damage at faster pace than mob it's fighting

I'd suggest practising on the Baselisks in Sundersky right in from the Goru zl. They're still DB at 74, but easy to manage, lots of space and a quick escape with the zone line right there.

Once you're comfortable with charming, you can use a charmed pet to tank summoning named mobs. Just get them dead quick and stay at max range. Be ready to be summoned if charm breaks. There's some risk to this eh, but I've done it successfully many times.

I use my trusty Sand Eroded Shell (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=19284) to even out damage between the charmed and non-charmed mobs. Be careful though... if charm breaks and the pet gets to you it's gonna rip you a few new ones. Snare is extra important, heh. If charm doesn't break until my pet is almost dead I click off savage spirit before I invis, just to be safe.

I would have to agree with Tanom - the DoDH instances Lost Notebook is great for root/rot method. Just Harmony the mobs and pull singles or pull with snare - Egress - and when you get back the one snared should be far enough away from the others to single. The only problem with these missions is you have to have a minimum of 3 people in your group to get them. Sometimes you can find people to join you for the mission who don't actually participate with you, just are in group/mission for you to be able to get the mission.

The DoDH missions are level based as well, meaning you have to have a certain base level to get the mission. I can't remember now - but I think the average has to be 70 or around there.

I also agree with the poster who suggested getting serpent vines - very rarely every resisted and it is fairly long lasting. I rarely solo any more, but when I do I have found the animals (tigers and raptors) on raptor island in the Buried Sea to be easy to root/rot.

Good luck!

Hycotti - what causes you to die tho - you keep saying you do - but unless you're standing on the mobs it can't possibly happen

answer, The few times i have tried to work with in the generic understanding i have of pet kiting, is i stay far enough out that i can keep the non charmed in range.
i do have a newer idea i want to play with on wedesday for this pet kiting, as it may help me to manage this better,

the mobs i have been using are snow leopards in icefall.

but my modifed new strat is gonna be pretty simple


Snare, Glamour, Root, charm, go get new mob, snare, glamour, root it next to rooted pet. sick pet. since both are snared and rooted, if need be i have a few extra seconds of live time to handle this

as one is near death, click invis potion, unclick it, and charm the healthier mob

sounds a bit tougher but it may work better for me with the extra security blanket

I would have to agree with Tanom - the DoDH instances Lost Notebook is great for root/rot method. Just Harmony the mobs and pull singles or pull with snare - Egress - and when you get back the one snared should be far enough away from the others to single.

is there an indoor working harmony i am not aware of?

I would wait until you have the second mob to charm the first...charm almost always breaks fairly quickly, and it's just a waste of 1k+ mana then.

When you hit 77 and have the charm try the crocs on the beach in lopping plains, its a safe spot to learn as they are slow even when not snared so theres time to get over the inital panic that may occur hehe. Everything there including the crocs likes us Druids, Crocs will add if you run over the top of em and stop to say hi, but other then that its open, by the sea and easy xp.

For lower levels Direwild Wolfies just by the druid port in. Some either side of the cave, do one side then the other, invis through the cave and leave the named alone. They run fast and hit hard so good snare essential but they are well spread so you can easily pull em one at a time. Just work 2 to start then add inthe 3rd when you feel confident.

Biggest bit of advice to would be charm kiters is if snare breaks turn around and run, don't walk backwards to get away, turn around and run. The number of times I have seen peeps just walk backwards getting stomped is amazing. You don't have to constaly watch the mobs, when you need room to cast a spell due to being close and charm broke, turn around and run away till you have room, walking backwards is a real bad habbit to develop. Keep in mind that exposing your back to mobs up close is not part of the plan though :)

Also use external view, mouse wheel scroll out and you can judge the distances heaps better, plus you can see whats behind ya all the time, I like it but thats just me.

Best of luck.

I've never had much luck with charm killing either, but I do believe it has alot to do with your Charisma level, is that true?
Also casting glamor on the pet is essential for charm not to break.

I did a lot of charming in Velious and PoP and only recently picked it up again ... I'm a total convert to the 'disposable pet' strategy.

Welcome aboard Danae :biggrin:

My kingdom for an upgrade to dire charm. Charge 30aa for it and I'll still get it.

Yes, I know it's not going to happen, but that doesn't mean I can't wish for it.

Great suggesting on charming.

I have a question. I have been trying to charm the mammoths in icefall, but I don't seem to be able to get my Charm to take.

I'm using the glamor of tunar, then nature beckons, but I keep getting a message that the mammoths are too high. I'm trying light blue critters. I then switched to wolfs and leopards, but I have the same problem.

I'm snaring everything fine which is keeping me alive, but I would love to try the charm aspect.

Suggestions?

thanks

Woldar

use the 71 charm, beasts becon, rk2 should be cheap in baz i got mine for 500pp. command of tunare has a max level of i think 69.

Perfect. Thanks for the help. Off shopping I go.

Woldar

When you have your charm - just stick to the mammoths on the open plain - the ones near the pools are too high for the 71 charm.

I've never had much luck with charm killing either, but I do believe it has alot to do with your Charisma level, is that true?
Also casting glamor on the pet is essential for charm not to break.Yes, the higher your Cha the better your charm will hold. Get a cha buff from a chanter. Better yet, if you can go charm hunting with a chanty. They can tash your pet and it will likely stay charmed the full duration of the spell.

At any rate, if no chanter, be sure to use your 'glamour' debuff to help charm hold.

BUT, always be ready for charm to break. If you're ready you'll be at max range and can re-charm.

I did the meat quest on deadbone island in TBS the other day with a chanty. With his charmed skelly, my charmed thulli, and chanties slow, we cleared the full length of the beach in minutes...was fun. :biggrin:

So..is there any cap to charisma as it affects charm?

I'm at 260 now, will be replacing a couple slots via bandolier for charming - 2.0 will replace w/ 25CHA stein, and ranged will replace w/ that scroll that drops on Suncrest from the dino. I get hit often enough still that I don't want to replace my shield w/ another stein. Will be augging both with DON stat augs soon, for a total of near 315 CHA. Should I look for ways to get even more?

i have been recently kiting in tbs, exp isnt to bad, use this when pet kiting in icefall isnt available.

Have been charming mobs between 150 and 440 charisma and never noticed a difference to be honest. You do notice a difference with spells that have a neg MR component, and also with a glamor/tash, so the only benefits I can feel you can tangibly get with charisma in EQ, is vendor costs and probability of aggro on a failed Lull (used to be 50/50 on a fail whether I'd aggro the mob, now I can chain lull and get fail after fail and it would be really unlikely to aggro a mob even if I'm doing it deliberately! This is anecdotal though, and I haven't tested lulls after taking all gear off to see if base cha is more likely to aggro or not).

I was looking on therunes.net, and the most info I could find was that some old parses showed, on mez spells, that 10 CHA had a similar effect as -1MR on the spell. No clue as to it's effect on charm though - they preach it heavily, same on eqdiva, but without numbers that I could find.

I'll try it out and "report" my findings.

Charisma does play an important role, but only at lower levels. It is like ac in that respect, it has a cap. After a certain amount (way back when I seem to remember it going by 50s... 100, 150, 200?) it doesn't really change charms much. I honestly haven't noticed a change with charms dealing with cha in a long time, just with lowering the animal's magic resist.

I got lvl 74 last night. I enjoy occasionally doing the pet charm/kiting in icefall but sometimes its a bit to hectic for me, Sadly my kiting grounds in TBS have gone lightblue to me at lvl 74, I have had mild success with atiki, but honestly, i have found it rough because of the fact that atiki is an indoor zone, and you can not soe, harmony the mobs. I would appreciate some additional suggestions. also have seen that mammoths are a bit over camped on luclin when i try to do them, mainly i keep running into Khauruk.

Charisma does play an important role, but only at lower levels. It is like ac in that respect, it has a cap. After a certain amount (way back when I seem to remember it going by 50s... 100, 150, 200?) it doesn't really change charms much. I honestly haven't noticed a change with charms dealing with cha in a long time, just with lowering the animal's magic resist.

[pedantic derail]AC has no cap - just a point of decreasing returns. Most classes who would worry about AC get good enough returns to make more AC always useful (in theory at least...I still think beastlords have a bug for their mitigation and agro both). And SoF has made even sickeningly high levels of AC (5k+) very useful.[/pedantic derail]

I was charming for Lesson again last night, with a jump to 282CHA. I didn't notice a real increase in duration of charm, but I did get 2 more AAs out of the 1/2 hour vs. last time - up to 8AAs now (and maxed healing adept line yay!). And, I wasted a good bit of time being stupid during the duration of lesson.

Also, Hycotti hasn't run into me there in weeks if ever - nice try though! :). I'd suggest you move to the far side of suncrest next, the side by the cinderscale drakes. One kiteable named there drops an ranged that might upgrade you (scroll of suncrest or similar name). I never liked Atiiki - HPs feel really high to me. Maybe that's just because I hate the zone.

If you do find yourself in Icefall again, 74's a handy level. White cons will be charmable, and anything yellow or above will not.

nah i bumped into you, i was in steppes, and about to head there, you said you were there, and i went to tbs instead. hehe

I know this thread is targeting 70+, but I have a few charm kiting questions myself for a level 55. My thread is here (http://thedruidsgrove.org/eq/forums/showthread.php?t=16525).

Mammoths are starting to slow down in exp at 75, any suggestions? it was taking 4-5 mobs to get 1% real exp.

There is no place better than Icefall at level 75, but once you hit level 76 go to Loping Plains, and charm kite gators. Also pick up the Rebuilding-Clay task from one of the elves near the port west of the beach (or the SW corner of zone). This requires you to loot 10 mounds of mud. After about 30ish gators you should have this, and this is decent exp + faction towards Fang Breakers (78 spell SotF and 79 spell Reptile are available with work on this faciton). I get about 2% of a level for 4-5 mobs at level 78.

Shhh...don't tell her where to find me. I'm almost uncontested usually when I play, don't wanna lose my spot :).

What is the best way to finish off the x charmed pet? nuke or dot?

Next charmed pet for kill. Or I usually use a dot if they're really close, and snare-parked, or I'm just having trouble getting charm to hold for new pet to kill it...you know all the ways your pet ignores you.

Nuke or dot it, do not use any charmed pet to kill. When you have a charmed pet and you kill something you lose roughly 50% experience.

As a druid charming Crocs in LP gave 8% exp to my enchanter at level 55 when I killed the crocs myselve (I use the Nuke AA thingie + Orb dot).

When I didnt damage it at all, it gave 2% exp. So thats quite a big difference.

Must say it was nice of Sony to give us that nuke AA to finish them off.

Nuke or dot it, do not use any charmed pet to kill. When you have a charmed pet and you kill something you lose roughly 50% experience.

I'll have to test it again, but I experimented with this at lvl 71, and it proved untrue - for AA at least. I don't see why there would be a different mechanic otherwise.

That means though that I should be getting >30% AA per mob at 76 then if I do the killshot? I've never heard of red mobs even giving that much xp (and I'm killing yellows). Assuming 50% xp loss, with lesson and an xp pot, I would then be gettin an AA per each kill w/ what I solo nowadays.

It's still true... I have tested it on the worgs in Loping Plains. I am not sure how much it is, but I am certain I don't get a big chunk of the exp I do with no pet. If you have a charmed pet when you kill a mob the % exp loss is also determined by how much damage you did vs your pet.

Will test it again on gators - one root/rotted, one charmed.

Nuke or dot it, do not use any charmed pet to kill. When you have a charmed pet and you kill something you lose roughly 50% experience.

This doesnt happen anymore. Ive killed thousands of worgs using both methods and exp is EXACTLY THE SAME.

ive spent endless hours charm kiting in tbs on deadbone reef and i seem to get exactly the same exp both ways as well.

I just charmed a Chimera in WoS, tried to take out a bazu but it had too much health, perhaps if I had been dotting earlier and nuking quicker and buffed the pet more I would have got it but I had to exodus when It stomped the Chimera and summoned me.
Next I set the chimera fully buffed and ds'd on a feran, with nukes and dots I took it down easy. Chimera was at 20% but when charm broke Chimera summoned me and again I had to exodus to escape. So I think thats the end of my soloing in WoS. Summoning Mobs just dont see the joke. :(

Must say it was nice of Sony to give us that nuke AA to finish them off.So true ;) Reaping Inferno also works well.

For lower levels Direwild Wolfies just by the druid port in. Some either side of the cave, do one side then the other

What level do ya have to be for these wolfs Soloun ?